Tempe Video Selects Mar. 11 As The Street Date For The Blu-ray Debut Of Director J. R. Bookwalter's Side Effects May Vary

His work is legend among genre film fans.   This would be none other than indie filmmaker J.R. Bookwalter, who has delivered such “delights” as The Dead Next Door, Ozone, Polymorph, The Sandman and Witchhouse 2: Blood Coven  … plus more, many more.

He began his film career in the early years of VHS, when there was this new distribution avenue called “direct to video.”   

Before 1980, filmmakers on a tight budget had three choices.   Run out of money and shove the project to another day … this was always an option (maybe an arthouse showing or a film festival screening … often years later).   They could finish the film and pay for a few 35mm prints and “bicycle” these from market to market (Ed Wood made a science of it).   Or they could shop the finished product to cable and network TV as a late-night MOW.

With J.R. Bookwalter’s latest gem, Side Effects May Vary, which marks his return to the director's chair after nearly twenty years of producing and distributing films ... he could have taken the “direct to video” option, but being a savvy filmmaker with nearly four decades of production, marketing and distribution experience, he decided to go throwback and do the Roger Corman early-days route with a market-by-market launch of the film.'

Bookwalter’s Tempe Digital (aka: Tempe Video), with sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has selected Mar. 11 as the Blu-ray debut date for this sci-fi/horror thriller.

Normally that would be the beginning and the end of it, but Bookwalter — being the showman that he is — elected to go back to the aforementioned post-war roots of indie theatrical distribution with a market-by-market approach employed by indie filmmaking pioneers of the period.   In his case, it was a theatre-by-theatre rollout with 38 venues hosting Side Effects May Vary beginning in January of 2024.

Bookwalter would do the promotional efforts, host the screening — the revenue was split with each participating theatre on a 50/50 basis — and interface with the audience (think: Q&A).   Thus Side Effects May Vary was every much a theatrical release just like Little Shop of Horror, Night of the Living Dead and The Giant Spider Invasion.

To that point, the ARR comes in at 410 days and the box office take from the film’s theatrical revenue — plus the kickstarter promotional “limited edition” DVDs and Blu-rays released by Bookwalter (autographed, etc.) during the market-by-market campaign — more than covered the film’s production costs.

That’s winning indie filmmaking … with a nod to the greats of yesteryear!!

As to the bonus features for this pandemic themed horror tale — which operates at so many different levels (no spoilers here) — Bookwalter provides commentary on the “director’s cut” and there is the Roadshow Opening Night Q&A at the Harris Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (a nod to George A. Romero).